There are two important lessons BDC learned on this very short engagement. The company were only in New Delhi for 2 days, but what an eventful two days they were …

The first take-away is:

Track your itinerary carefully and obtain visas to match. In this case, BDC were on an extensive tour of 6 countries and went through the obligatory visa process well in advance, noting that there were special conditions for those members of the BDC ensemble who were not Americans. When the company obtained their visas for India, they asked for multiple entry visas because the itinerary called for a stop in Mumbai; then hopping over to Sri Lanka; and then back to New Delhi...
OK? Straightforward? Yes, but one of the dancers was only given a single entry and nobody noticed this until he was detained at the ND airport and nearly sent back to Sri Lanka! Fortunately, BDC were able to talk and buy their way out of the dilemma but had this not been the case, the performance would have been very cancelled!

The second is:

Make sure that, if you have several sponsors, they are all in agreement on the times/dates of the performance, and how many tickets they are permitted to have for their guests. Especially when your sponsors are not “equal” -- i.e., a government agency vs. a corporation -- you can get into serious trouble. Read on!

Performance for the general public at Kamani Auditorium, October 15:

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations coordinated with Battery Dance Company in
hosting a performance for the general public at New Delhi’s Kamani Auditorium. BDC
had performed on the same stage in ‘94, ‘97 and ‘01. The event was compromised by a
miscommunication with ICCR, which sent out over 4,000 invitations and announced the
curtain time as 6:30 pm. BDC had earlier established 7 pm with its sponsors – who had
been promised blocs of tickets as a sponsorship benefit. Some of the guests of Taj Hotel,
Citibank and Boeing were unable to find seats as a result of the hall’s being packed,
every seat filled and hundreds of standees, by the time they arrived. The media coverage
gracefully avoided mention of the chaos in the auditorium, focusing instead on the company’s
dancing and the repertoire which received high praise.